Aaron Carter Addresses Prescription Drug Use: ‘I Stopped All of It’

The 30-year-old singer sat down with ET’s Katie Krause ahead of his upcoming tour and first album in 15 years, “LØVË”, and he candidly discussed his sobriety, as well as his mental and emotional state.

“I’m very healthy, emotionally stable, and a lot more in tune with myself and my feelings,” he shared. “I’m blessed with my health. I’m a healthy man.”

With regard to sobriety, one thing Carter says he’s cut out completely is prescription drugs. “Stopped all of it,” he said. “Even when I got out of treatment, they had me on certain things, and I stopped all of it. I didn’t want to be on anything.”

When asked about the prescription for PTSD he told us he was taking in December, Carter said, “Yeah, but I dealt with a lot of things, and I have a different mentality when it comes to certain things. I believe willpower is a very important thing and with treatment sometimes, they don’t believe in that.”

As for alcohol, Carter maintained that he never touches the stuff… most of the time.

“None. I was never a drinker,” he said. However, when asked about his past admissions that he’ll have a glass of wine now and again, he clarified, “Sometimes. I was never somebody who drank themselves to getting blackout drunk.”

But one thing Carter does not see himself giving up is marijuana. While saying that he doesn’t necessarily smoke daily, he did admit, “I still smoke weed … Not every day. But it’s pretty much a ritual.”

“When I went through the treatment process, I told everybody there, ‘I’m gonna be smoking weed still,'” he explained. “I like smoking weed. I find it a very zen thing.”

As far as any concerns that smoking weed could lead him down a bad path, Carter is adamant that it won’t. “I’m just not gonna let that happen.”

At that point, Carter was asked to estimate just how much a year his weed ritual costs him. While he was pretty unsure, he did throw out a ballpark figure. “Ten grand. Probably,” he said, laughing. “It’s for a good cause.”

With all that in mind, Carter’s new outlook on life, built on a foundation of his struggles last year, is what”LØVË” is all about.

“Going to rehab, getting arrested. It’s all a testament to my character and building my character as a man,” he explained. “Every single thing in my life I take as a lesson.”

Carter’s “LØVË” album is out Friday. His 2018 tour kicks off on Feb. 22 in Teaneck, New Jersey.

It’s been a long road to this album for Carter. Last September, the singer checked into a wellness facility, where he was able to healthily gain 45 pounds and confront past trauma.

“It was tough, you know, it was tough a bit on myself, but the Alo House, where I went, was incredible,” he added, praising the facility in Malibu, California. “They helped figure it out for me what was going on with me, and there are other things going on, like, I suffer from PTSD. I have a lot of trauma from my past and a lot of loss, so that’s something I have to deal with on a daily basis.”

In July, Carter was arrested in Georgia for DUI refusal and possession of marijuana. In an interview with ET that month, Carter denied being under the influence at the time, and said he appeared to be driving erratically because of a rental car’s alignment issue.

“Somebody said I was driving recklessly on the road — that’s what the police report said — but the alignment was off on my car, so I went to AutoZone to see if I could do anything about it,” Carter explained. “A motorcyclist reported that I was swerving all over the road, but the alignment was off a little bit on the new tire.”

“I do not drink alcohol at all,” he added, saying he has a medical condition that prevents him from doing so. However, he did admit he will occasionally sip beer.

“I’ll occasionally have a sip of a beer or something like that, but I can’t even drink IPAs,” he clarified. “I can’t drink anything like that. I have to drink the lightest beer possible that’s not hoppy. I don’t drink any hard liquor.”

Later, in December, Carter expanded on his idea of sobriety to ET.

“What does sobriety mean to me? I will have to say staying off of certain things, like, staying in what I am doing right now,” he explained.

“Of course, I am an addict, I don’t have to feel like it, I am,” he shared, noting that he was honest about smoking marijuana with those at his wellness facility. “I told everybody where I was at. I was like, ‘You know, when I finish here, I probably will be smoking weed,’ and that is just something that is a part of my … it is my ritual, kind of.”